The Opelousas courier., 1887-06-04
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.

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BY lowering an electric light photo
graphs have boon obtained of the dccl
sea bottom.
DR.. Samuel Sexton, speaking of thu
great danger of injury to ears under
cannon firing. says thor, is probably n.
better protection than a firm wad o
cotton wool we'll advanced into the ex
tcrnal auditory cara'.
In many parts Of France heavy ma
chinery is run by artesian-well power.
The deeper the we'll tho greater thu
pressure. A we'll at Grenelle has a pres
sure of 60 pounds to the square inch,
and the water is so hot that it is USED
for heating the hospitals in the vicinity.
A doctor in st. Louis explains the
necessity for having two ears by the fact
that sound is always heard more dis
tinctly by one ear than by the other,
aud in this way it is located. A man
with but one ear can hear just as we'll as
a man with two, but he cannot locate the
sound.
The bridge over the straits of Messina,
that separate Sicily from Italy, will,
when completed, be of the most
striking feats of modern engineering.
The place selected is where the channel
is 2 t.2 miles wide and 361 feet deep,
and two piers will support a viaduct Of
steel rails to q height of 3ss feet above
tho water.
The Canadian Department of the In
terror is compi ting arrangements for a
geological and Typographical expedition
to the gold fields of British Columbia,
lying on the Alaskan frontier. The ex-
petition will set out and its work will
extend over two years, the idea being
that the party shall explore the entire
country and prepare a full report fol
Parliament on it's and condi-
ton.
Bells "Ciimatology" says that the
paramount considerations for the pro-
motion of health arc an abundance OF
pure air, sunshine and outdoor exercise.
Without these no climate is mo motive
of health or %propitious for the cure oil
disease, and with them, it is safe to say,
the human powers of accommodation are
such that it is difficult to distinguish the
peculiarities of any climate by their joint
results on the health and longevity of its
subjects.
Steel, although hard, is very brittle,
but a needle may be driven through a
copper cent in the following manner:
Introduce the needle into o cork of the
same length; place the needle and its
cork over q cent laid upon q bolt nut, or
even upon a table that you do not fear
to injurc, and then take a rather heavy
hammer and strike the cork a hard blow.
If the bow be true and a hard one, the
needle will pass through the cent. The
experiment may be tried with any other
piece of money.
While it may seem singular that the
division line between animals and plants
cannot be clearly traced-somc forms
appearing to belong to either or both
kingdoms-it is still more remarkable
mineral substances should seem to
be living creatures. Oae OF the most in |
teresting finds in the ocean depths is |
Huxley's Bathybius, made of shapeless, |
motionless slime. It has been supposed.
be the common origin of the animal
and vegetable kingdom, but its organic
character has lately been questioned, |
and many naturalisss now consider it
only gelatinous gypsum. In Cocoon
We have another animal of a
few years ago which il now regarded as
a mineral substance.